Perhaps it is a good thing (or, maybe not) that I have never heard of Sammy Rhodes and his @prodigalsam twitter troubles before reading his book “This Is Awkward.” I think it was a good thing. // Last week, I started and finished reading his book.

At our study group on Wednesday, we talked about the name of God (יהוה) and how the letters “yod,” “heh,” “vav,” “heh” remind us of the sound of breathing. Besides that, the words for the Spirit and wind / breath are the same in Greek (pneuma) and Hebrew (ruah). They even sound similar in Russian / Ukrainian.

It was a post that I have written seven years ago, but as I re-read it this morning (courtesy of “On This Day” Facebook feature, which reminds you what you posted years ago on this day), it still made sense. (Written originally on December 29, 2008, at 4:29 am)

While Bonhoeffer wrote Life Together, Hitler’s attack on Czechoslovakia was front and center. Hitler publicly said that all the German-speaking people of Europe belonged to Germany. The Austrian annexation had been painted not as an act of war, but as a loving father welcoming his children home. The parts of Czechoslovakia that spoke German – or what was called Sudetenland – were portrayed in the same way.

I love background stories and this book is structured in such a way as to tell the personal story of Dietrich’s life, including stories of his family. Bonhoeffer was a man young people always followed and this student edition has been masterfully adapted for that target audience.

“What is Truth?” asked Pilate as he was investigating the words of Jesus at the trial. He was not the only one who was curious about that concept. Ever since the ancient Greek philosophers like Plato and even before them, people were interested in finding out what is a reality, what is true, what is the Truth?